Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I've seen this idea on several blogs.
My 1 1/2 inch strips drawer was pretty lackluster, most under 9 inches long, a few longer pieces. But, I have memories of all these fabrics and wanted to use them. I made them into a long snake, sewing the pieces end to end. Cut it in half, sewed together along the length, cut in half again, and did this over and over until I had a piece of fabric about 50 inches wide. I did this 3 times and used up the drawer!
Our neighbor Mrs. Pals wove rag rugs for us growing up. I still have a few of hers. I loved watching her at her loom. This quilt reminds me of Mrs. Pals' rugs.

Today I placed the order for our mother's corsage for Mothers Day. Faithful readers may remember our problems with our small hometown of 1800 people with three Henrietta Dykstras. Yes, three different women named Henrietta found three different Dykstra men to marry. Even when we use our Dad's name, flowers get delivered to the wrong Henrietta because the deliverer gets the idea someone must have made a mistake. This has gone on year after year after year with at least 5 florists from 3 towns. Three years ago a florist threatened to take Beth to collections for refusing to pay for flowers that were delivered to the wrong house, picked up AFTER Mothers Day and shoved in the storm door of our parents' house. One of the Henriettas is no longer of this world, but the confusion continues. Last year my parents were invited to a wedding of a family they hardly knew. Being the polite people they are, they attended with a lovely gift, to realize once there that the other Henrietta and her husband were the intended guests. They enjoyed the cake and went home.There is a new florist in town, wife of a childhood classmate's little brother, who I can only hope is less annoying than he was 40 years ago.She assured me the flowers would go to the correct Henrietta.

An Iowa QuiltMade from 70 6 1/2 inch plaid squares cut in half to 6 1/2 by 3 1/4 inches.Red strips in each row, cut 6 1/2 inches long: 2 cut 1 3/4", 2 cut 1 1/2", 2 cut 1 1/4", 1 cut 1".(I cut some 6 1/2 inch red strips then cut my little strips from them.)What I like about this quilt: The plaids recede to background and are not on a grid because of the uneven sizes of the red strips. But, because of planning and using the reds in equal numbers in each row, the rows stay the same length.LATER:Carolyn from NC points out a similar pattern athttp://patsknittingandquilting.com/2009/images/april/saltwatertaffy.jpgI don't remember seeing this before, but must have absorbed it--(Theirs is prettier!)

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

I love this wonderful block from Bonnie Hunter's book. My sashings are cut 2 inches instead of 2 1/2. I am awaiting finding a great cranberry fabric for the border. It is in my head, not on my shelves or of any fabric story I've been to.Eve and I are back from a college tour trip to St Louis. My first time there--I really enjoyed it. The redbud was blooming.We stopped in several thrifts and added a new stack of plaids to my life. I need ideas for what to do with buttons.